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Good comm skills turn me on

Only two days ago, I ventured into working as a project-based assessor.

Working part time isn’t really what I am after, but since I have yet to wait on my pending online application which I suppose is some game of luck, I thought I might as well convert idle time to cash.

So I did.

An outsourcing company in Ortigas hired me to do language assessment for its client’s applicants for a care management account. I do the first level of screening for the applicants, rating their language proficiency accordingly in the areas of pronunciation and intonation, fluency, grammar, and linguistic range.

If I may say, this is by far the most enjoyable job I’ve had ever. I don’t feel like it’s work because it is a piece of cake. I mean, there’s no pressure in having to strike an everyday conversation with the applicants while standing guard to lapses in the English grammar, not without coming across as intimidating.

I get paid to be a grammar nazi, yes. I knew that I took my COMA190 subject (which is a hardcore grammar course) seriously for a reason.

Surprisingly, some people seem to not have given the English grammar or the English language at large the slightest of their academic interest. Fine, they aren’t communication majors, but isn’t English a subject that is part of the curriculum ever since, uhm, kindergarten?

I don’t see any excuse why a college graduate will not be able to answer questions in complete sentences without resorting to words in the vernacular language.

It’s inevitable for anyone to commit lapses in the English language or even display strong FLIs (first language influences) since we are no native speakers of English after all. But come on, to hear statements like “I’m graduated from” or “it makes me challenging” from college graduates just cannot get worse, at least not before I had this applicant who has a candidly taken black and white full body shot as his resume photo.

Just how businesslike can a resume be? Ftw.

It is disappointing more than it is annoying and funny.

Good comm skills will take you places, people. Don’t let bad grammar get in the way.